The present invention relates to improvement in bed frames constituted by an assembly of flexible parallel slats.
In the patent EP 0 680 715, there is described such a frame in which the slats are carried pair-wise at each of their ends by a flexible support with two symmetrically elbowed branches, the lower branches of said support each terminating in a toothed wheel portion which engages on the toothed wheel portion of the other lower branch of the support, the supports located at the two ends of the slats of said pair of slats being secured in rotation by two transverse rods connecting the toothed wheel portions, these latter being subjected to resilient return means.
It develops in use that this device had the drawback that all the load applied to the frame was resisted by the resilient return means themselves fixed to the branches of the supports, which meant that all the forces were resisted by the supports and these latter failed in use.
On the other hand, it was seen that the elbowed levers broke at the bend from fatigue of the material used.
To eliminate these drawbacks, the applicant has, in his European patent EP 0 783 856 filed Jan. 8, 1997, replaced each elbowed lever with a lever in two parts articulated to each other by a hinge and embodying a system returning the flexural forces of the lower flexible slats by means of one or several crosspieces. Moreover, according to this EP 0 783 856, the number of crosspieces can be multiplied and their spacing can be varied, it being possible to adjust as desired the resilience of the system.
This device gives excellent results, but it is too cumbersome, which has kept it off the market.
In French patent 97 154 17 of Dec. 5, 1997, there is disclosed another improvement according to which a spring is disposed between the flexible slats and an abutment is carried by the rigid frame of the bed base such that the forces are transmitted to said rigid frame.
The present invention relates to improvements to the device described in French patent 97 154 17.
A first improvement consists in the abutment carried by the rigid frame against which the spring bears, is carried by the piece which bears the bearings on which the two articulated levers pivot, this piece being disposed above the rigid frame.
The bed frame according to the invention is also notable in that:
said carrying member is constituted by two walls disposed at a right angle relative to each other, the first wall carrying the bearings and the second wall, perpendicular to the first wall, serving as the bearing abutment for the spring,
said second wall is disposed along one edge of the first wall such that said carrying member rests on the top of the rigid frame with said first wall along the internal vertical surface of the rigid bed frame and said second wall against the upper horizontal surface of said frame.
The second improvement consists in that the spring bears on the support against the element which carries the two slats by means of a disassembleable abutment.
To this end:
said disassembleable abutment comprises a head, a cylindrical skirt in which is inserted the spring, and two lugs,
said disassembleable abutment is mounted on the element which carries the two slats, the head of the abutment bears against the upper surface of the element, the cylindrical skirt extends into an opening of said element and the lugs bear against the lower surface of the element,
the lugs of the disassembleable abutment and the opening of the element carrying the slats, have elongated cross-sections which are similar and which do not have symmetry of revolution.
The invention also concerns a subassembly adapted for the production of a bed frame, characterized in that it consists in:
two slats
two supports, comprised by an element into which are inserted the two slats and two symmetrical elbowed branches, constituted by two lower portions and two upper portions articulated to each other by a hinge, the lower portions of said support being freely mounted in rotation on bearings and each terminating in a toothed wheel portion which engages with the toothed wheel portion of the other lower portion of the branch of the support,
two transverse rods connecting the lower portions to fix together the supports located at the two ends of the slats of said pair of slats,
two springs each disposed between one support and one abutment,
two carrying members each supporting an abutment against which bears a spring and the bearings on which are mounted the lower portions of the branches of a support.
The invention also relates to a process for adjusting the comfort of a slatted bed frame, characterized in that said bed frame according to the invention is sold with several assemblies of springs of different characteristics and in that the user will select for each slat the spring ensuring the support which suits him best.